India rising to a new level

With continued fractures in the global food space, we see production costs and the ensuing cost of goods weighing in on consumer purchase decisions. Still, there are green shoots to consider within meat production and retail. We see winners and losers in exploring changing consumer needs and how meat producers are keeping in step. There is a pivot among Japanese consumers from premium meat like beef to more affordable chicken. This could be a trend across the rest of Asia as producers ramp up capacity expansion and processing.

This week we celebrated ‘Protein Day’ in South Asia, aimed at educating more consumers on the importance of eating protein in their daily diets. South Asia, with a vast population, lags in meat and egg consumption, and change has been slow for many years. In 2020, the average daily meat consumption per person was below 40g in the region, and per capita egg consumption in the year was less than 4kg.

So can we increase consumption by keeping these proteins affordable?

The pig industry in Asia has been hard at work, striving to get back on its feet and reach pre-pandemic levels of output. Year-long price fluctuations have shadowed producers, leading to downsizing and fewer players. Despite rising demand, consumption remains weak amid hope that prices will bounce back in 2024. Vietnam expects prices to rebound and demand to recover this year. Elsewhere, in a bid to urge consumption producers and retailers are exploring untapped segments with potential for growth.

As tensions in the Red Sea impact movement of goods to and from Europe, Asian Agribiz talks to Mohammed Al-Ansare, Senior Pricing Specialist and Melvin Kwok, Agriculture Specialist from S&P Global Commodity Insights on how this would impact grain flow to Asia. Mr Al-Ansare also takes a deep dive into what to expect in the shipping markets going forward as the crisis drags on.

In this podcast you will learn about:
• market trends in container prices as the Red Sea heats up
• how Asia is buying grains and what impacts it is facing with the crisis
• key predictions on grain shipping markets in the next few months 

The Lunar Year of the Dragon is predicted to bring good fortune to livestock industries globally. But staying positive is a task indeed with all the challenges the industry must contend with. For instance, in the past, an election year in Indonesia would boost chicken meat consumption significantly and reign in good prices. But this has not been the case with a lot of online campaigning. Then, there are disease issues to be wary of.  Recent reports about avian influenza in Laos and Cambodia have raised fears of a more widespread outbreak in the region. On a brighter note, the Indian poultry industry expects 8-9% growth this year, fueled by rising consumer demand, particularly for processed chicken, with rapid expansion of fast-food chains.

When feed producers develop formulations with the intention of reducing in-feed antibiotics, they need to ensure the optimization of the ingredients to support animal health. Kurt Wegleitner, Managing Director, and Waraporn Kraitavin - Regional Technical Support Manager at Phytobiotics Futterzusatzstoffe GmbH, shared with Asian Agribiz that phytobiotics are a proven and feasible solution. With clear plant material designs for specific animal health aspects backed by scientific facts, the results can be rewarding, realizing good performance without AGP.

Good hatchery management is crucial to produce high-quality chicks and to maximize hatch rates and ensure successful in-ovo vaccination.

 Asian Agribiz speaks with Gerd de Lange, Senior Poultry Specialist at Royal Pas Reform, about how in-ovo vaccination works for effective vaccine delivery.

 In this podcast, he discusses:

• advantages of in-ovo vaccination
• vaccine administration
• the reasons why in-ovo vaccination might fail, and
• the hatchery management strategies recommended by Pas Reform.

China is on a mission to widen its network of high-standard free trade agreements in 2024. No surprise that Asean and chosen Asian countries are tipped as favored partners in this exercise. Already Asia is being touted as the furnace in which a new era is forged. The region accounts for 57% of global GDP growth, 64% of patent generation, and more than half of global middle-class households. It is becoming a shaper of the new rules for the world. What does this mean for the animal protein sector? We see China playing a central role amid a rush into its lucrative meat market.  

Purchasing or formulating broiler feed diets based on crude protein content is an outdated concept, says Matthew Clark, Director, FeedGuys Resources, Malaysia. Mr Clark who will lead Asian Agribiz’s Broiler Feed Quality Conference on February 21, will discuss how new concepts of measuring amino acid composition will be both useful for the bird as well as the wallet. Listen to this to know what to expect at the Conference this year.